Denmark: The declaration of abdication

In my blog article titled Denmark: The declaration of abdication exempted from publicity published on 22 January 2024 I expressed my astonishment that the text of the declaration, which Queen Margrethe signed on 14 January 2024, was not made public. When the National Archives of Denmark wrote at its Facebook page on 19 January that the document had been received, it also informed that «The declaration of abdication is being physically kept in the National Archives and is not scanned and made public.» When asked why, the representative referred to the archives act. The same information was also given in the media, for instance at msn.com (Ritzau) 16 January 2024 and tv2kosmopol.dk 21 January 2024, so there was nothing wrong with my understanding or translation. It could be, however, that the National Archives was only commenting on the access to the original document kept in the archives and nothing else.

On 15 January 2024 I e-mailed the Danish Prime Minister's Office and asked if the declaration of abdication would be published in one way or another, referring to my interest in constitutional history and expressing my wish to read the text. As an historian specialising among others in the constitutional aspects of the monarchies, I am of course interested in the process of succession to the throne and how things are actually carried out when a monarch decides to abdicate the throne.

Today I received a reply from the PMO.  The office had generously interpreted my e-mail as a request for document access (anmodning om aktindsigt) and had decided to accomodate it. Enclosed was the scanned copy of the abdication document, including Queen Margrethe's signature.

In translation:

We, Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, by the Grace of God Queen of Denmark, hereby announce that We, with Our signature on this document, abdicate Our Throne.

[Signed.]

Given at Christiansborg Palace, 14 January 2024.

The document also say it has been «Issued in two identical copies». As I explained last week, one copy is kept by the archives of Folketinget (the Danish Parliament) and the other by Rigsarkivet (the Danish National Archives).

Besides the scanned copy of the declaration of abdication, I also received a «file overview» (aktoversigt), referring to the enclosed declaration as document no. 91/2024, that it was categorised as «internal» and that it had the id number 572976.

I am of course  very pleased that I have received the document, even though I am still wondering why the declaration was never considered for announcement in Lovtidende (the Danish Legal Gazette) or in any other form, such as at the website of the PMO. How can the declaration be deemed less important/«Lovtidende worthy» or less relevant than for instance the announcement of King Frederik's monogram? It is, as I have written earlier, after all a constitutional act which relates to who the head of state is and from when. But having now received the document, I hereby promise not to question the Danish ambitions of transparency too much in the future!

Updated on Thursday 1 February 2024 at 08:30 (minor correction to the translation of the declaration).

Luxembourg: Prince Louis engaged to marry Scarlett-Lauren Sirgue

The Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg announced today the engagement between Prince Louis, b. 1986, the third son of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, and Scarlett-Lauren Sirgue, b. 1991, the second child of Pierre Sirgue and Scarlett Berrebi.

Scarlett-Lauren Sirgue was born in Bordaux, France on 8 August 1991. She has lived in Cap Ferret, Bordaux, Switzerland, London and Paris and today works as a lawyer in the family law firm, which has offices in both Bordaux and Paris, and specializes in labour law, family law and personal injury law. Ms. Sirgue was admitted to the Paris Bar 23 years old and took the oath when she was 25. Prince Louis works for the same company. Ms. Sirgue has two siblings – Elisabeth Defforey, who is 34 years old, and Archibald Sirgue, who is 27.

Prince Louis was previously married (from 2006 to 2019, separated in 2017) to Tessy Antony (now Tessy Antony-De Nassau) and has two children by her, Prince Gabriel of Nassau, b. 2006, and Prince Noah of Nassau, b. 2007. Tessy's engagement to the Swizz businessman Frank Floessel was announced in December 2020. In February 2021 it was revealed that the couple is expecting their first baby together.

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway handed over the Protection of the Law Prize to the Lovdata Foundation

Norges Juristforbund, the Norwegian Association of Lawyers, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016. It is also 10 years since the association's Protection of the Law Prize (Rettssikkerhetsprisen) was awarded for the first time. This is why Crown Prince Haakon was invited to attend the presentation ceremony and the lecture in connection with the Protection of the law conference at the Grand Hotel in downtown Oslo today.

This year the prize was awarded to the foundation I work for, Lovdata.

As far as I can tell there was no news coverage of the event, but you can find photos of the presentation through the following Twitter links:

• Jon Wessel-Aas, 12.02 P.M. 27 Sep 2016 
• Advokatbladet, 1.14 P.M. 27 Sep 2016

On the last photo you can see from the left to the right board chairperson of the Lovdata Foundation, Herman Bruserud, Lovdata director Odd Storm-Paulsen, former director and founder Trygve Harvold (who received the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, 1st class, in 2000, for his work for Lovdata),  Protection of the Law prize  Prize committee member Siv Hallgren and committee member Sven Ole Fagernæs and Crown Prince Haakon.

The Protection of the Law Prize is awarded one or several persons, an institution or an organisation which during the previous year or for some time has distinguished itself in its work by

• Strengthening the protection of the law and equality before the law within its field of work,
• Working for the rule of law principles, freedom of expression, equality, human rights and safety from trespass to person
• Contributing to increased understanding of and insight into the body of laws and rules
• Contributing to more efficient proceedings and more secure decision making through the use of (legal) competence

(The Norwegian word rettssikkerhet is according to my copy of Åge Lind's Norwegian-English Legal dictionary understood as «law and order», «protection of the law» or «protection accorded by the law», but also «due process protection», as in for instance «protecting an individual against unlawful acts on the part of the state itself».)

Updated on Wednesday 28 September 2016 at 13.40 (photo identification corrected).

Spanish abdication act published

The Spanish abdication act was published in the Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE) just over midnight on Thursday 19 June 2014:

Ley Orgánica 3/2014, de 18 de junio, por la que se hace efectiva la abdicación de Su Majestad el Rey Don Juan Carlos I de Borbón

Long live King Felipe VI!

Spanish Congress of Deputies passes abdication bill

The Spanish lower house, the Congress of Deputies, processed the abdication draft bill today. Some representatives used the event to mark their opposition to the monarchical form of government, but as the major parties voted in favour of the bill, everything went as expected.

For the record, 299 representatives were in favour, while 19 voted against. In addition there were 23 abstentions.

The relevant documents:

• Proyecto de Ley Orgánica por la que se hace efectiva la abdicación de Su Majestad el Rey Don Juan Carlos I de Borbón. (121/000098)
• BOCG. Congreso de los Diputados Núm. A-98-1 de 04/06/2014 
• BOCG. Congreso de los Diputados Núm. A-98-2 de 11/06/2014
• El Congreso aprueba el proyecto de Ley Orgánica de abdicación de S.M. el Rey don Juan Carlos date 11/06/2014 (press release)

Information in English (provided earlier):

• Government approves Draft Constitutional Law on the abdication of King Juan Carlos I
• Draft Constitutional Law on the abdication of HM King Juan Carlos I de Borbón

Press release from Prime Minister (President of the Government) Mariano Rajoy

• Mariano Rajoy states abdication of King is progressing with "constitutional normality"  (11 June 2014)

The text of the abdication bill is quite simple:

Sole Article. Abdication of HM King Juan Carlos I de Borbón.

1. HM King Juan Carlos I de Borbón abdicates the Spanish Crown.
2. The abdication will become effective as from the entry into force of this Constitutional Law.

Sole final provision. Entry into force.
This Law shall come into force as from the date of its publication in the Official State Gazette.*

The bill will now move on to the Senate, where it will be processed on Tuesday 17 June 2014 at 4 p.m. The following day it is expected that King Juan Carlos will sanction and promulgate the abdication law in accordance with the Constitution Article 62. But as the text of the bill suggests, the law will not come into force until the date of its publication in the Official State Gazette.* Nothing is official yet, but it seems that Felipe will take the oath on Thursday 19 June 2014.

According to El Pais (3 June 2014), "The exact date when the law goes into effect is set to coincide with the proclamation of the new monarch, as there can be no transitional period. In the meantime, “the king continues to be the king to all effects and purposes,” said an expert in royal affairs."

I find this claim a bit odd. If Juan Carlos had died in his sleep still being the king, there would most certainly have been a transitional period, so why should there be a difference when the king abdicates and becomes "constitutionally dead"?

We will surely obtain more information as we get closer to the main events next week.

*Postscript 23 June 2014: It should be added that I based the translation of the abdication act on the draft bill published by the Government on 3 June 2014, where the text of the final provision said «This Law shall come into force as from the date of its publication in the Official State Gazette".» In the translation at the Royal Court’s website the final provision reads «This organic law shall take effect when it is published in the "Official State Gazette".» The latter translation was made available after the act was published in BOE.

There is obviously a minor, but still significant, difference between the two translations. The former translation would mean that the then Prince of Asturias became king (as Felipe VI) at midnight on 19 June regardless of when the act was published that day, while the latter clearly says that the succession started from the time of publication. Not much difference in time, though, as the act was published two minutes after midnight.

Even though my understanding of Spanish is limited, it seems to me that the translation at the Royal Court’s website is more accurate. The draft bill’s final provision in Spanish said that «La presente Ley entrará en vigor en el momento de su publicación en el Boletín Oficial del Estado".», while the published act read «La presente ley orgánica entrará en vigor en el momento de su publicación en el «Boletín Oficial del Estado». » The only difference is that the word «orgánica» was added during the process.

Updated on Wednesday 11 June 2014 at 22.35 (press release from La Moncloa added), last time on Monday 23 June 2014 at 22.20 (postscript added).

Easter break summary

Statue of police inspector Sigvard Larsen (1948-1928), "father of the police act", outside his home in Storgata, Lillehammer.

This year's Easter break was spent with family and friends at Hafjell and Mandal, and I decided to take a little break from my blog as well. The only exception was the addition of a photo and a postscript to my blog article of 20 March 2012, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in Norway. The addition was made the only evening I spent in Oslo after the stay at Hafjell and before I travelled down to Mandal. Here is a summary of various news etc. I most likely would have written about (not necessarily in a chronological order, though) if I spent the whole vacation in front of my computer instead of being with my family:

• A few days before I travelled up to Hafjell I thought about the expected birth of Peter and Autumn Phillips second child. It would be so typical if the child was born when I was not able to write about it right away. And of course, the news of the birth of Isla Elizabeth Phillips, the second great grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, came on 30 March, the very day I was driving up to Hafjell. The baby girl was born the day before, 29 March 2012, at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Peter Phillips is the son of the Princess Royal (Princess Anne) and Mark Phillips.
• 30 March 2012 was the 10th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002). Earlier the same day (Saturday 30 March 2002), I lost my grandmother, Aslaug Trygsland, née Ramstad (1915-2002), so naturally at the time - and also this year - the royal event came in the background.

My grandmother Aslaug Trygsland (1915-2002). This must be her confirmation photo taken in September 1930 (see no. 29).


• 8 April 2012 would have been the 100th birthday of Sonja Henie (1912-1969), the Norwegian figure skater and Olympic champion.
• Another anniversary that got some attention this Easter was the Titanic disaster of 15 April 1912. Yes, still a few days until the anniversary, but at least two documentaries were broadcasted on Norwegian TV this Easter, hence my comment. A survey of the Norwegian passengers at Titanic can be viewed here.
  
• During my Easter break at Hafjell, I visited Lillehammer, which hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1994. In Storgata I passed the statue of police officer Sigvard Larsen (1848-1928), who is regarded as the "father of the (Norwegian) police act". According to the information plaque, Larsen, who was Lillehammer's first police inspector, was a pioneer in the struggle for more rights to the police employees. In 1906 he even forwarded his own law proposal for a national police act to the Norwegian Storthing. Nothing came out of it at the time, but 6 years later a committee was appointed to review the question. But Norway had to wait until March 1936 before the police act was sanctioned. Why it took that long is another matter. I might look more into in in connection with my work at Lovdata.
• Concerning Easter, GD.no published a photo of the king and queen of Norway as well as Princess Märtha Louise and the Behn family arriving at Vinstra Station in connection with their vacation at the royal mountain chalet ("Prinsehytta") in Sikkilsdalen. I am not sure where the Crown Prince family spent their Easter vacation, though. It could have been at their own cottage in Uvedal or at Dvergsøya outside Kristiansand. Or somewhere else...
• GD.no published the photo to illustrate a NTB article which told about a poll Ipsos MMI had conducted for Dagbladet on the Norwegian royal family. The poll revealed that 93% believes King Harald does a good job, while only 1% says the opposite. The numbers for the other members of the royal family were 81% (Queen Sonja), 89% (Crown Prince Haakon), 75% (Crown Princess Mette-Marit), 25% (Princess Märtha Louise - 27 % actually think she does a bad job) and 5% for Ari Behn. Not sure why the latter, who, although he is considered a member of the royal family, never performs official duties on behalf of the royal family on his own. Princess Märtha Louise seems to get negative ratings because people can't see the difference between her official role and her private business (her "angel school" etc.). Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner could have been included in the poll, but is not very well known and was probably left out because of this.
  
• During the first days of the Easter break the news that the Norwegian Genealogical Society (NSF) had terminated an agreement with the other Norwegian genealogical association, DIS-Norge, concerning the hiring of office services, was announced. NSF has stated financial reasons for its decision. It has not been received well by the DIS-Norge leadership and surely lead to some debate among the Norwegian genealogists, but hopefully the two associations will be able to co-operate on other matters later on. I have been a deputy member to the NSF committee since 2009.
  
• Buckingham Palce announced yesterday, 9 April, that the Duchess of Cornwall had been appointed (to be a) Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). Awards in the Royal Victorian Order are made personally by The Queen, for services to the Sovereign.